Elections take a toll on a family, but to come through a lot of the negativity and attacks on your character your entire family has to be grounded with a strong faith in God and a strong belief that deep down you know where you came from and also where you are going.

This next four years will certainly be different than the last four. During the last four years we had 4/5 of the board with the same goals, in the next four years we have four Republicans on the Council which gives us a simple majority. This will allow the correct check and balance between the Council and the Executive but will still be challenging to achieve our goals of fiscal responsibility and business friendly measures in place.

We've done well over the last four years to place the County in a strong financial position with the highest bond rating in County history, and I will work hard to keep it that way. I signed a taxpayer pledge to vote against any measures to increase taxes, you can be assured I will not fold on that pledge.

I will do my best to work through issues in a civil and professional manner but I only hope the opposition does not mistake this as a weakness. They will need to understand that I can and will compromise on certain issues but I will not vote to raise taxes, fees, or any other form of revenue. I will remain fiscally responsible and work to keep the County living within its means just as you do in your household.

As we get sworn in December 1st, this will start a new page in County history, the start of Charter government. Some people like this form of government, some people dislike it, my opinion is this, it really doesn't matter what form it's in, what matters is the leadership qualities of the people you elect.

We have to remember that it's not the governments job to take care of you from cradle to grave, it's job is to provide basic core functions and to stay out of the way of the job creators so that simple supply and demand economics can provide commerce which provides taxation which provides the means for the basic government services, and that is how I will govern.